Changing Tides
by Ruler of Fanfiction
Summary: New summary. Leia is caught in a huricane. Dayrl finds her on the beach, takes her back to his basement and wants to keep her there, while she wants to go back to the ocean. Disregarding Leia's feelings, Daryl turns her into the unthinkable: A human girl.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

_I had heard that the beach is calm before and after a storm. It is a deceiving calm, that almost makes you believe the driving winds and rain of last night never happened. I had never fully believed this information, even though it came straight from the best wise men of the merkingdom. I laughed and said that if what the wise men said was true, I would have to see it myself before I could believe it. I spent many years that way, living life on the edge, doing experiments -that often ran into danger- just to "see what would happen." But that was before the hurricane. My mother had warned me that morning that there were warnings of a big storm that was going to hit our area, one that would affect both the land under the sea and above the surface. In other words, a hurricane was coming. _

_"Leia, I wish you wouldn't go anywhere today. There are rumors of a storm, and currents are sure to be strong." She cautioned, worry showing plainly on her face._

_"Mom, don't worry. I'll be back before the storm hits." She still seemed anxious, so I tried to feign more confidence than I actually felt. "If I'm not, I promise I'll find someplace to wait it out." I didn't wait to let her say anything else, fearing that she would stop me from going altogether. In a short time, I had swum to my base of operations: a small reef with a sheer drop-off perfect for experiments with gravity. Near the reef was a cave where I kept my equipment and records of the results of my previous experiments. Luckily, a sunken ship provided most of my research tools that I couldn't find or make from the natural sea life. Quickly rigging up a system of pulleys and levers, I attempted to see how much force and time it would take to break open a large boulder with another rock that was less than half its size. It was all really very simple: I pulled on the end of the rope; the pulleys raised the small rock. I let go, and the rock fell on top of the boulder. After a couple of hours of this, I stopped to check my progress. All that pounding had only made a nice sized dent in the boulder, nothing more. The small rock, on other hand, had seen better days. Discouraged, I started to pack up my equipment, struggling a little against the ever quickening current._

_By the time I had everything back in the cave and organized, the current was strong enough to force me to swim my hardest if I ventured to swim out from the shelter of the cave. Things would have been a lot better if the force of the current were flowing in the direction of my home. If that were the case, I could have gotten there in record time. Unfortunately, it was running in the opposite direction. My mother's warning flashed through my mind. If she were here, she would be warning me to stay away from the mouth of the cave and remain inside until all trace of the storm had gone. The choice was simple: Do I stay like my mother would want; or risk it and try to find my way home? I wavered indecisively between the two, unable to decide which one to choose. Finally, after much wasted time and peace of mind, I made my decision. Swimming to the cave's opening, I only hesitated a moment before shooting off into the open water. _

_Almost immediately I regretted my choice. The water swirled in all its oceanic fury; every inch of ground I gained in the right direction would be lost when the current propelled me backward. Following this pattern, I reached the valley where countless ruins of ships that had gone down in lighter squalls than the one at present lay. Over time, it had become a sort of ship graveyard, where occasionally merchildren played or explorers and scavengers hunted for human relics. Remains of ships flashed by as the current swept past, propelling me with it. With no warning, I collided with the jagged hull of an ancient vessel. I screamed in wordless agony as the pointed metal adornments of the ship tore a large gash in my side. Blood clouded the water, making me feel sick to my stomach. Mercifully, I passed out, and knew no more._

Daryl walked along the beach, exalting in his good fortune. The storm yesterday had been the cause of it all. Bits and pieces of wreckage and plant life were strewn haphazardly about the beach. He had made a point of getting up early and coming out here in the hope he might be able to scavenge something he could use in his laboratory. He hummed a little in satisfaction: his sack was already almost full, and he hadn't even covered the entire beach yet. As he climbed over a sand dune, Daryl saw something that made him drop his sack and simply stare in wonder. It was colossal! Stupendous! The greatest discovery of his life! It was- "A mermaid…" Daryl breathed, almost in reverence. Completely disregarding his dropped sack, he advanced slowly toward the mermaid's prostrate form. He stood over his find, his eyes fixed on her limp tail with obvious delight. But she was hurt; blood seeped out of a serious looking wound in her side into the sand. He knelt to examine it more closely, trying not to care about blood getting on his white lab coat. Other than the tail, her body was perfectly human, Daryl noted in some surprise. Not at all like the old tales that his mother had told him as a child. In those stories, mermaids were more fish than human, although they were rumored to have haunting voices that would lead sailors to their deaths if they heard it while aboard ship.

So absorbed was he in this train of thought that he almost failed to notice when the mermaid lying right in front of him began to make feeble motions as if trying to drag herself back into the ocean. Not wanting to lose his latest discovery, Daryl slung the mermaid over his shoulder, being careful of her wound and her tail. He carried her back to the laboratory, taking the long route so no one would see what he carried.

Once he was in the secluded safety of his own home, he took his find downstairs to the cluttered basement. Kicking open the metal door, he frantically searched for a place to put her while he searched for a first aid kit. The only place that wasn't cluttered with papers, books and pieces of experiments was an old bathtub, so he laid her in it as gently as he could.

"First aid kit, first aid kit, got to find a first aid kit." Daryl murmured to himself as he scoured the shelves for something, anything, that he could use to stop the mermaid's bleeding. She couldn't die, she was too important to science to die. Finally he found what he was looking for at the bottom of a large trunk where he had put apparently useless things.

Taking out a large roll of a gauzy waterproof bandage, he tried to measure out how much he would need in his head. Failing at that, he just decided to use the whole roll. If it was a bit over excessive, at least it couldn't hurt.

When the job was finished, Daryl stood back with a smile of satisfaction. It didn't look too pretty, but the bleeding had abated somewhat. The mermaid was still unconscious, however, and Daryl couldn't wait for her to wake up.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

…_.Pain. My head throbbed with it and my side positively screamed with it if I made any attempt to sit up. I reached down and touched the bandage wrapped around my lower body. It was wrapped almost too tightly, as if the person who had done it didn't know how to put a bandage on properly. Everything that had happened after I had passed out was a blur in my memory. I dimly remember the feel of sand under me, and the overwhelming desire to get back to the ocean. After that, I lapsed back into unconsciousness and awoke to find myself lying face-up in a tub of water with my wound bandaged. I couldn't look over the edge without causing myself pain, so I just stared blankly at the ceiling. Soon, I was acquainted with every spot of cracked and peeling paint in the radius of my vision. Trying to puzzle out where I was and how I had gotten there only made my head hurt all the more, so I gave it up after the first few minutes. As I was contemplating the ceiling, a human face appeared above me. Its scraggly black hair and staring eyes made a terrifying image. _

_I screamed shrilly, holding up one arm in a defensive posture across my face. My scream seemed to startle the human, for he- I somehow knew it was a male, maybe because no female could ever look the way he did- stepped back hastily and I heard a crash that sounded like a heavy object, and then many other objects, falling to the floor._

_Gripping the edge of the tub, the human pulled himself up until he was once again standing over me._

"_So, you're finally awake." He said, grinning broadly. When he smiled, he looked even odder. He looked remarkably like a gleeful, staring octopus. _

_Not lowering my defensive posture, I decided to ask him a few questions. "Who are you?_

"_My name is Daryl," He answered freely, "I've been waiting a long time for you to wake up."_

_That floored me. "Why am I here?" I asked, not sure if I wanted to hear the answer. "For that mater, where am I?"_

"_Well, you see…" For once Daryl seemed to be having trouble coming up with an answer. "I found you unconscious on the beach and carried you here to my laboratory."_

_Laboratory? If this in fact was a laboratory, which I doubted, than I had been rescued by the human equivalent of a scientist. I ventured to ask him another question. _

"_Were...were you the one who applied this bandage?" I gestured down to the white strip of gauze that was wrapped tightly around my waist._

"_Yes, I was." Daryl replied bluntly. "You almost surely would have died otherwise, and that would have been a great blow to the scientific cause. No other scientist in history has ever had the opportunity to study a live mermaid."_

_At the word "study", indignation flared in me. "You only rescued me because you wanted to study me?" I asked, my voice assuming a tone of coldness and incredulousness. "Thank you for the care you took with the bandage, but if the only reason you saved me was because of what you could profit from me, than I want nothing to do with you!" I turned my back to Daryl, momentarily ignoring the pain that immediately seared up my side._

"_Mermaid…" Daryl said hesitantly, as if he had no idea how the conversation had taken such a wrong turn._

"_My name is Leia!" I snapped, "Now, would you leave me alone!"_

_I pondered my predicament. I was stuck with this creepy human at least until my wound healed, and after that…? I suddenly realized I didn't have a plan. I could go back to the ocean, but on the other hand, this could be a once in a lifetime chance to observe humankind at close range. Tears filled my eyes at the thought of my ocean home. My mother would have no way of knowing where I was, and she would most likely be almost out of her mind with worry by now. Since there was no way of sending word to my mother, I made the only resolution I could under the present circumstances: I would get away from Daryl as soon as I was fully healed. And for no reason whatsoever would I let Daryl do any sort of scientific experiments on me. _

Daryl sat at his desk, his head in his hands. He was puzzled as to the mermaid's reaction to their conversation. She didn't have to get so touchy when he had only mentioned her importance to science. He sighed. He would never understand women, especially not foreign women. Since she had apparently shunned his company, he had nothing but time on his hands, so he wrote in his scientist's log, where he kept his record of successful and failed experiments and important events.

April 26th

Today a great scientific discovery was made in the form of a mermaid found (by me) unconscious on the beach about an hour before dawn. She is now awake and situated in my basement, but I foresee great difficulty in studying this specimen.

He closed the ledger and glanced toward the tub where Leia resided. No sound came from it, if he didn't know she was submerged underwater, he would have thought she was dead. Minutes passed, and the silence only deepened. Somehow, he didn't feel as excited as he had that first moment when he found the mermaid on the beach.

Not one to be defeated so easily, he crossed over to his workbench and fiddled with an experiment he had been trying to finish for weeks now. An odd looking thing with tubes and wires protruding from it in every direction, it needed a power source to be operational, and he had exhausted every possible option that he had in his immediate possession. As his latest attempt exploded in his face, Daryl was struck with a brilliant idea. Tomorrow, he would go to the mine and search for a certain kind of gem to power his experiment. If he gained a little profit from his excursion, then that was all the better for him. And if that failed, he could always try using water power as a last resort.

Daryl wouldn't have admitted it to anyone, but there was another reason he wanted to go to the mines. That reason was Carter's lovely assistant, Flora. Ever since he had first seen her, he had thought her to be a very goddess, the epitome of human beauty. Though he felt this way, he contented himself with watching from afar; the reason for that was because Carter rarely left Flora's side, and Daryl didn't want him interfering when he was trying to be romantic. It never once occurred to him that he might be rejected by Flora, after all, who wouldn't want such a highly intellectual individual? Comforted by that thought, he worked on his experiment as best he could until tomorrow came and he set off on his trip to the mines.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

_I lay awake half the night, memories of my home and family coming unbidden to my mind. My mother: patient, loving and perhaps a bit overzealous in my protection; was the only parent I had. My father had been killed in an uprising between two opposing factions in a territorial dispute many years ago. Our home in the depths of the ocean, made out of fine coral and limestone. I had spent many happy hours exploring the waters near my home, often venturing farther than my mother would have wished. In the past, I had always come back safely, bearing my discoveries back home to show to my mother, delighting to see the smile that lit up her face when I displayed a particularly interesting object …But not this time. Now, I was held captive by a human scientist who had blatantly admitted he had saved me and tended to my injuries because of my importance to the "scientific cause!" I huffed with contempt, but a nagging little voice kept reminding of my own scientific nature. _

"_But that's different!" I thought arguably, "I never used a human being in anything I did, and now this scientist, Daryl, is rejoicing in the opportunity to study a living, breathing mermaid!" It only galled me all the more that the mermaid he planned to study was no one other than I. _

_Lying on my back in the tub, I prayed for a plan that would get me out of here. All my previous ideas, such as knocking Daryl out and finding my way back to the ocean on my own ability, were rather stupid, and the odds were unlikely for them to even have a glimmer of succeeding. I had to think of something that would actually be plausible during the general execution of said plan. The main thing standing in the way of my success was Daryl. As it was, I was not on speaking terms with him, although he had tried numerous times to draw me into some form of conversation since I had made it clear I did not want his company. An idea slowly took shape in my mind. If I could somehow get Daryl to see my way of thinking, get him to trust me, maybe I would be able to convince him to release me back into the ocean. It was a slim chance, given my opinion of Daryl's mental and ethical welfare, but it was one I was desperate enough to take. Daryl was gone right now and I vowed that when he returned, he would find a changed mermaid. No more harsh words and insults, only kind words and friendly gestures. It almost made me sick just thinking about it. Desperate or no, this was going to be a hard job to pull off._

_A bright point of my day was that my side didn't hurt as much anymore. True, there was still immense pain every time I moved my tail, but it had lessened. I didn't know how long it would take for me to be fully recovered, and I fervently prayed it would not be a very long recuperation. Back at home, there were medicines made from the extracts of kelp and other sea plants. I had had to experience many of these treatments in the course of my life because of my adventuresome nature. I would come home in tears over some injury or another, relying on my mom to make everything right._

_Smiling at this memory of my childhood, I closed my eyes and thought over the plan that would bring me back to the people and home that I loved. _

Dust billowed around Daryl as he determinedly searched the mines for a substance suitable to perform as a power source. He had come down into the lower levels of one of the mine's many tunnels, hoping that there would be more valuable jewels down there, but also because of Carter. Normally, Daryl would been delighted to have a chance to be near Flora, but there was the small fact that Carter would not leave them alone. He persisted in staying with Flora while they worked, never leaving even to go outside for a breath of fresh air. Oh, Carter said that the dig was more important to him than anything else, and that he was fulfilling his lifelong dream, but Daryl knew it was all a farce. Carter wanted what Daryl and every other man in his right mind would: to be by Flora's side. And so, Daryl had come here, banished from his love by the presence of an intruder.

"What an arrogant, interfering archeologist!" Daryl muttered bitterly behind clenched teeth. Fueled by frustration, he doubled his exertions. After much digging, his shovel hit a hard object. Picking it up, he quickly identified it as Orichalc, a mineral that had virtually unknown properties.

"This should be perfect." Daryl said in satisfaction, "If this doesn't work, I can always come back later." _With Flora working here, that might not be so bad_… He added in his thoughts. Depositing the Orichalc in his sack, he headed upward to the main floor of the mines. Flora wasn't there, but Carter was, which was surprising. Shooting a disdainful glance at him as he passed by, Daryl walked out into the bright afternoon sunlight.

Shielding his eyes from the glare, he spied Flora just disappearing around a bend in the path. Throwing caution and all trace of sensible thought to the winds, he followed her. The path led to the Goddess Pond, a place revered for being the supposed home of the Harvest Goddess, the patron of the valley and the lands surrounding it. Many times, Flora glanced behind her as if she was unsure of being followed, but Daryl scuttled behind whatever was available to conceal himself from her sight. This kept occurring until they reached the very border of the pond itself. Daryl was concealed behind a tree, watching as Flora stood motionless before the pond, thinking who knows what.

"This is my chance! Daryl thought exuberantly, "No Carter, and Flora here all alone. All I have to do is walk up to her and tell her what I feel toward her." This set off an imaginational rambling that went so far as for Daryl to imagine Flora dashing into his arms, consenting to marry him, and then the both of them growing old and dying together. No woman could withstand the depth of feeling that burned within him. So taken was he with this possible future outcome, that he had failed to notice Flora quietly cast one long look behind her and creep away into the cover of the underbrush. When Daryl turned back to look for Flora, he was dumbfounded. Where she had only just stood was now empty space. Becoming distraught, he came out of hiding and hurried up to the pond, looking in every direction for a trace of his Goddess. Just as he was about to have a mental and emotional breakdown from having such a perfect once-in-a-lifetime chance snatched cruelly away from him, an accusing female voice sounded behind him.

"So you're the one! I wondered who it was that was stalking me for all these months."

Daryl's mind flew back to all the times he had followed Flora around, never letting her see him, but only trying to get a glimpse of her. Apparently, things hadn't worked so well. He barely even had time to finish that thought before the tough sole of a boot hit him squarely in the chest. This attack was followed by a right hook to the jaw, and a few well placed karate moves to his legs and shoulders, causing him to go down on his knees for support. His body ached all over. For a girl, Flora was surprisingly strong.

"Let that teach you to prey on unarmed, defenseless women." She practically hissed at him. Her revenge obtained, she turned and walked briskly away from the Goddess Pond, never once looking back. Daryl started limping towards home, vowing that he wouldn't let this one setback prevent him from what he knew was the inevitable.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

_I waited for a long while before I heard footsteps on the stairs leading down to the basement. I swallowed, hardening my resolve. All my present hopes were centered on this chance to win Daryl over. The footsteps briefly stopped and were followed by the sound of the basement door creaking open. However excruciatingly painful, I raised myself out of the tub, at least so far as to be able to observe Daryl without having him stand over the tub staring down at me like I was some helpless invalid, although in a way, that was exactly what I was. What I saw made me gasp and almost lose my hold on the tub's edge. I had prepared a speech to recite by way of apology when Daryl arrived, but on first sight of him all that I had planned to say vanished from my memory. What I saw was a broken man, a dark bruise on his jaw line and slumped shoulders, limping slowly toward the chair in front of his desk. My mind swam with confusion. Where was the confident, determined scientist from just a few hours ago? In his place was this new person, one that I had not had the chance to observe before. Daryl reached the chair and sat down heavily, his head in his hands. My carefully practiced speech completely deserting me, I was at a loss for things to say. I decided on something trivial, something that wouldn't sound overly forced._

"_Daryl…what happened?" I choked out, struggling against my natural impulse, which was to turn my face to the wall and ignore his very existence. _

_He stiffened; I suppose my speaking at all after what had passed between us had come as a complete shock to him. Turning to face me, he fixed me with a stare that was attentive, though dazed._

"_N-nothing happened. I just ran into a little trouble with some local hooligans on the way back." _

"_Oh. I only wondered because you seem to be in considerable pain at this moment." I shifted my position in the tub to get a better look at Daryl's face. In the Mermaid kingdom, there is a saying that a lying man can be discerned by his facial expressions. Humans, unlike some mermaids, are terrible liars. It has to do with the eyes. The eyes of a lying man are said to be desperate, almost pathetic in appearance. I had never really had an opportunity, or a reason, to examine the truth of this saying; but as I gazed into the eyes of the man sitting only a few feet away, I knew it to be true. For the pair of eyes I looked into were filled with a feeling I instantly recognized: Desperation. _

"_It's just a minor jaw and limb injury, I'll be fine." Daryl's eyes lost some of their dazedness as a fact dawned on him. "I thought you weren't speaking to me?"_

"_About that…I…I apologize." If only he knew how harshly every word of this conversation grated on me, until I feared I would break out in an indignant outburst, and let my true feelings on the matter be known entirely. I did not believe Daryl's story of how he had come by that bruise on his face for a minute, but I said nothing, wondering how long he was going to hang on to that lie._

"_You do, hmmm?" Daryl propped his feet on the top of his desk and rested his hands behind his head. "And just why would you do that?"_

_I shrugged nonchalantly. "You rescued me and bandaged my wound, and for that I am thankful. After all your kindnesses, it would be foolish not to trust you." I smothered a grimace. "I have no proof that you are not a nice person and I shouldn't base my judgment on feeling alone."_

"_Well, thank you for admitting your mistake." _

_Admitting my mistake?! This scientist was close to being on my last nerve. If he sounded any surer of himself, I would…I would…Let's just say I had to powerfully resist the urge to slap his face. Not showing my vast inner struggle, I smiled at him. _

"_Daryl, when do you think I'll be well enough to go back to the ocean?"_

_At this Daryl sat bolt upright in his chair. "Go back?" He said incredulously. "Why would you want to leave?"_

"_I don't know…family, friends, and _freedom_? I put emphasis on that word: freedom, hoping he would get the point. "There are many reasons."_

"_Yeah, well, you won't be able to leave for a long time yet, so you'd best get used to things as they are." _

_So he hadn't thought even once about my feelings…and now I doubted if he had the capacity to. All that mattered to him was science, and being the first to discover a mermaid…What rubbish! I gazed at my limp tail sorrowfully. _

"_If I didn't have this, than I wouldn't be in this predicament." I said softly, but not soft enough for Daryl not to hear. At my words, his eyes started to gleam with a scheming, mischievous look. Preoccupied with my tail, I didn't see Daryl's expression. If I had, I would have suddenly been very, very afraid._

_Daryl jumped up and scurried out of the room, in a great hurry to do something. I did not spare him a glance as he left. Nor did I care when the heavy metal door slammed behind him. As silence filled the basement that was furnished like a laboratory, I felt more alone than I could ever remember feeling in all my life._


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

_Chapter 5_

_Once Daryl had gone, I allowed myself to weep over the hopelessness of my situation. It would not have done to let Daryl see me cry this way; it would have made him think that he had power over me and then he would be more arrogant than he already was. My tears still coursing down my face, I slapped the still water in the tub with my tail in frustration, forgetting that it would cause me pain. I gasped in shock at the agony that ripped up my side after even that small amount of movement. It would take more time than I had anticipated for me to heal completely. By now, my mother must be frantic with worry. Thinking of home only brought on a new wave of sorrow. Questions circled unceasingly in my mind, the most important being: "What if he doesn't ever let me go back?" I _had_ to escape. I couldn't endure staying here, letting that awful man imprison me in this place. He had even said himself that he did not plan on letting me go, possibly forever. I could live and die inside these four walls and no one would ever be the wiser. All that would be left of me would be notes and observations and the products of a few tests, if Daryl succeeded in performing them. As for my body, it would probably be dumped back into the ocean, returning me to the sea in death as I had not been able in life. Thinking about the possible future only increased my sadness, so I tried to recall memories of happier times and places, outing with my mother when I was little to explore the ocean which is our home. As I got older, and explored farther, my mother left me to venture out by myself more and more often, until she rarely came at all. After my father's death, she was heartbroken, and never stopped grieving for him, not even after ten years had passed. I would catch her staring into space sometimes, her eyes fixed on something I cannot see, and I know that in those times she is remembering my father. I don't remember much about my father. I know he was a large merman, with a fine signing voice, and was very kind to me even when I got into trouble. If only my father had lived. Then, maybe, things might have different, and I would not be stuck in this galvanized excuse for a bathtub._

_More than an hour had passed, and I was still waiting for Daryl. It worried me that he was taking so long, but at least I did not have to see his horrifying face. I had to fine tune my plan for getting out of here. If this took too long, and Daryl didn't believe me, then all hope might be lost. When he came back, I would be a nice, compliant little mermaid, as much as it sickened me to do it. I could only pray that I would not fail. No, I will not allow failure! This must succeed!_

Daryl walked along the streets of Mineral Town, a shady expression on his otherwise expressionless face. What he planned to do wasn't devious, just incredibly scientific. If this experiment worked, then all of the world would have to acknowledge that he, Daryl, was a genius. Oh, he could tell that some people in this town and in his home valley were afraid of him ,but he concluded that thy just must be in awe of his awesome intellect. He entered the library, hoping that the librarian had the books he had requested. Seeing no one behind the counter, he rang the bell put out for guests. The noise echoed through the nearly silent building, and soon a dark haired young woman came down the stairs.

"Yes, may I help you?" Upon seeing Daryl, she gave a small shriek of surprise and possibly horror before quickly recovering herself. "If I could just have your name, sir, I could tell you if we have anything for you. Or, if you're jut browsing, please take your time, and I will be in the upper level if you need my assistance. She turned to go, but Daryl swiftly prevented her.

"My name is Daryl, which you should know by now. I believe that I had requested some volumes from this library, and you had said that they would take at least a week to come in. Well, it's been exactly a week, and I need to know if the books have come yet."

Mary bit her lip, not at all pleased to be seeing the object of her most recent nightmares again so soon. "Excuse for a moment and I'll check." She hurried behind the counter and searched the shelves underneath for any of the books that Daryl had requested. Two of them were on the top shelf; she grabbed them, not caring to check for any others that might be there.

"Here you are," she said, trying to make her voice normal, and not wrought with fear she felt whenever she looked at his oddly proportioned features. "You have…."Mutations and Atom Splitting for the Average Scientist" and "How to Operate Effectively." Needless to say, Mary was more than a little uneasy about the titles of the books could mean, but she rang them up with surprising speed, gave a quick bow to thank him for his patronage, and vanished upstairs.

"Strange…" Daryl muttered, "She didn't even wait for me to say my thanks, she's usually such a polite girl." Shrugging off any confusion he might have felt, Daryl took the books and headed for home, picking up his pace because he knew that at the end of the journey, a mermaid awaited him. When he finally reached his dwelling, he kicked open the door, as was his habit, and called out, "Leia, I'm home!" From below came a shout of "You idiot!" Since all was silent after that, Daryl concluded hat he must have been mistaken, and that he couldn't have really heard that after all. Kicking open the basement door, he put the books on the worktable before turning to his lovely mermaid guest. "Leia, how are you this fine day?"

"Oh, I'm just fine, Daryl," came the forced reply. "Of course, I couldn't exactly tell what sort of a day it was, now could I?"

"Do I detect a hint of sarcasm?" Daryl quipped, in an unusually good mood.

"…No, it's nothing. It's nothing at all."

'The poor girl' Daryl thought absently, 'She's suffering from the wound…Oh, well, it will heal soon enough.'

The pleasantries over with, Daryl started work on what was to become his greatest achievement.


	6. Chapter 6

(To everyone who had read and enjoyed this fan fiction: I am so sorry that I haven't updated this lately. It's just that I haven't been inspired to write this story in a long time. And please, don't tell me that this invention couldn't possibly work. I made it up myself with out anything to go on except memories of old Frankenstein movies.)

Daryl rubbed his hands together in satisfaction as he stepped back and looked at his latest invention. Exhaustion and sleep deprivation blurred his vision, but he was content. After almost a week of work, his greatest triumph of the scientific world was complete. It was a bizarre looking contraption: The main section was cylindrical, with a flat space in the front big enough for a human body. Different sized metal cords and tubes were attached to the machine from two powerful generators, designed to recycle their own energy as they worked, thus eliminating the need for hydroelectric, or manual, power. It was operated by a control panel that Daryl had built into the basement wall. The finishing touch, and the most important piece, was the control switch, which jutted out from the wall.

Yes, his creation was a beauty. It seemed so to him, at any rate. With his masterpiece complete, his mind turned to the other part of the experiment that he was soon to perform. The essential element that would make his hours of labor worthwhile; Leia, the mermaid he had found on the beach.

She had not spoken to him during all the time he had worked on the machine. At any other time, he would have wondered at this, but he had too much adrenalin and caffeine from all the coffee he had drunk coursing through him to really care about such things. Crossing over to the galvanized tub that she still lay in, he tried to reason with her.

"Leia, are you awake? Please answer me."

No answer, only the sound of her shifting her body as far away from him as she could manage.

"Mermaid, please talk to me."

There was no answer.

_Oh, well,_ Daryl thought dismissively. _If she won't cooperate, then I'll have to take matters into my own hands._

Bracing his legs against the metal side of the tub, he picked Leia up as if she were no more than a doll. She let out a startled gasp and tried to struggle free from his grip. Her rebellion was short-lived; her struggles only reopened the wound in her side and she screamed in pain, going limp in his arms. Grateful for the opportunity, he strapped her to the flat side of the cylinder and quickly connected the tubes and wires to her waist and lower body. Daryl had accomplished that none too soon, for Leia revived slightly and seemed surprised to be where she was. She tested the bonds, and when she found they were unbreakable, she glared at Daryl with anger and another, unreadable, expression in her eyes.

"What are you going to do with me?" She spat out, still glaring at him. If looks could kill, then Daryl would have been a dead man by now.

"Not to worry," Daryl reassured her, "If this works out the way I hope it will, then you'll thank me for this for the rest of your life."

"_If_ it works?! Are you mad?" Fear was beginning to replace her anger and she struggled in vain against the bonds, hoping that by some miracle, she would be able to break them.

"No, my dear, I am assuredly not mad. Just a touch eccentric, is all." Daryl strode to the control panel and pulled the switch. Instantly, the power generators hummed into life and with increasing rapidity, electricity was sent through the wires connected with the helpless mermaid.

Leia screamed in pain as each new wave of electricity hit her already injured body. Her screams were loud enough to alert someone passing by of her plight, but Daryl wasn't worried. The noise made by the power generators was enough to cover their sound. If anyone did pass by, he or she would just think it was Daryl, the crazy scientist, working on another of his nutcase experiments.

As the waves of electricity coursed trough the mermaid's body, Daryl began to notice a slight change. Where her tail had once been, two appendages were starting to form in the manner of human legs. Daryl watched intently, awed by what he was experiencing. At the back of his mind, another part of him was elated that one of his machines actually worked. It appeared that those seven years at that top scientific academy had not been wasted after all.

Two hours went by, and Daryl had not moved at all, but remained watching his one successful experiment to its completion. Things were not so good for Leia, however. She had been subjected to so much electricity that she had become unconscious.

She would have grateful for the unconsciousness if she could see what had happened to herself. What had once been a magnificent tail was now a pair of normal, human legs.

"Yes! It worked! I've done it!" Daryl exclaimed, congratulating himself with due vigor. Now a problem resented itself. For you see, Daryl, in his zeal to turn Leia from fish to human, had forgotten that for a mermaid, a tail was all the cover that they would need. For a human, it was quite a different scenario.

Averting his eyes, Daryl undid the straps and gently, so as not to damage the product of his latest invention, laid her on the floor. To keep his dignity and to promote modesty, he covered the girl with his lab coat. She slept there peacefully, all anger and fear forgotten in the sweet repose of sleep. It never once occurred to Daryl that she might not wake up from having so many watts of electricity pumped into her body.

Slipping into a spare lab coat, Daryl had only to watch and wait for her to wake up.

_The first thing I noticed when I began to regain consciousness was the pain. It spread throughout my entire body, so that when I tried to move even so much as a finger, I could hardly stand it because of the agony that would ensue. Dimly, I tried to think back to what might have caused this terrible predicament._

_I remembered being strapped to some sort of machine, and then that sad excuse for a scientist saying that I would be grateful to him, and…and the pain started. They were horrible, excruciating pains that wracked by body and never let up, but just kept coming, one after another. Mercifully, I became unconscious and that was all I knew up to this point. _

_But something was wrong. I could feel it. I knew that something had happened to me, but I was unsure of what it was. Using all my willpower, I reached out a trembling hand and felt for the wound that I had gotten battling the hurricane. It was there, and my hand met warm, sticky blood; quite different from the bandage that had been there before. But through the blood, I felt something odd. Running my hand down where my tail should have been, I felt what could only be called a human leg. _

'_No! No, it can't be true!'_ _I thought in desperation,_ '_I_ can't _have turned into a human! It-it just isn't possible!' _

_But I had to admit that it was possible. The facts spoke for themselves. Somehow, someway, I had become the recipient of a pair of human legs. I tried to cry out, but all that issued from my mouth was a weak groan._

"_Oh, so you're awake, are you? Tell me, how do you like what I've done for you?" A voice asked from what seemed like a faraway distance. Even though I was groggy, it was a voice that I recognized. It was the voice of the man who had won my scorn and who was the only person who could have done this to me. It was the voice of that meddling scientist, Daryl._

_I tried to raise my head to tell him off, but the pain was too much for me and I laid it down again with a groan. _

"_Mermaid, you're not going to…_die_, are you?" Daryl's voice, worried this time, floated down to me._

'_What do you think? If I die, it'll be your fault.' I thought sarcastically. Oh, this was a fine mess! I now had human legs, and I was powerless to do anything but lie here and think of witty comebacks for whatever Daryl said. For that matter, how had I gotten these human legs? If what I remembered of the process was correct, then the electricity coursing through my body had transformed my tail turn into legs. The ingenuity of the whole thing fascinated me. _

_The sea had its own source of electricity: the electric eel. Just one eel could create enough electricity for any number of experiments. My head swam with the innumerable possibilities of such a discovery. But unlike my human counterpart, I would not use other living beings for my experiments. The one thing that this experience had impressed upon me, even more than the fact that humans were ingenious fools, was that all life was precious, and should be guarded against people such as my captor. _

_When I failed to reply, Daryl grew ever more worried and began to panic. "What have I done? The only living proof of my success and I'm going to lose her." He grabbed my hand as if to assure himself that I was as yet still alive. "Please don't die! You're the only proof I have I have. Without you, I have nothing but willing machinery to do my bidding. I know! I'll take her to Dr. Hardy. He'll know what to do."_

_I was picked up and put onto his shoulder, and he proceeded to carry me up the stairs and out into the open air. We took a winding route, with Daryl ducking behind buildings, rocks, trees and anything he could fins to make sure we were not noticed by anyone we encountered on the road. Apparently, it was quite an odd thing for a mad scientist to be seen with an almost paralyzed girl over his shoulder._

_Soon enough, we made it to the clinic, which was just one in a row of buildings that were dotted around the town. Fortunately for us both, there were no residents who might inquire into the nature of my malady in sight. _

_Even with barely being able to move my head, I received quite a shock when I first got a good look at the doctor. For one thing, he was wearing shorts under a sterile white coat, and, the most disturbing thing of all was that one of his eyes had been replaced by some horrific metal prosthetic. _

_Upon seeing us in the doorway, he allowed a look of surprise to cross his face before standing and greeting us as his customers. _

"_Welcome to the Clinic?" The doctor said with a professional smile. "How may I help you?"_


End file.
